2009 Martinelli Winery Syrah Zio Tony Ranch Russian River Valley

Helen Turley and 94-Point Martinelli Zio Tony Ranch

In critical circles, Helen Turley is nothing short of a force of nature, having earned 90 reviews of 96 points or more from Wine Spectator and Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate — and seven perfect 100-point scores.

Turley’s résumé? As Wine Spectator reported in 2010, “Turley was instrumental in creating the mystique that became the cult wine phenomenon, taking startups such as Peter Michael, Colgin (where she found the owner a prime vineyard to boot) and Bryant Familyand elevating their reputations to international fame, as their quality—and prices—soared. At the height of her influence, Turley simultaneously made wines at Colgin, Bryant Family, Turley, Martinelli, Pahlmeyer, Green & Red, Harrison, La Jota, Landmark, Canepa and the couple’s own label, Marcassin. Many of them became storied names in California wine under her tutelage.”

But if you were to ask Robert Parker, Stephen Tanzer, Wine Spectator, or WineAccess where Helen Turley has turned out her most lavish and utterly hedonistic reds, the answer would be the same: Martinelli.

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In the early 1880s, at just 16 and 19 years of age, Luisa Vellutini and Giuseppe Martinelli eloped, leaving a small village in Tuscany for Northern California. Giuseppe quickly landed a job planting a vineyard for a landowner in Forestville, saving nearly every nickel he made. Two years later, the couple took their savings and borrowed money from a local woodcutter to purchase a steep, back-breaking hillside. Working side by side, Luisa and Giuseppe planted that 60-degree slope to Zinfandel and Muscat Alexandria. Over 100 years later, the southeast-facing Jackass Hill Vineyard remains the steepest non-terraced planting in Sonoma County.

In the stellar 2009 growing season in Sonoma — which many still believe to be the finest harvest of the new millennium — the Martinellis’ famed Zio Tony Ranch Syrah was nursed to extreme ripeness. Just a couple tons per acre of ultra-ripe Syrah were hand-harvested, then trucked to Helen Turley’s crusher. Ms. Turley did the rest.

The 2009 Martinelli Syrah Zio Tony Ranch is purple-black to the rim, showing no sign whatsoever of its three years in bottle. High-toned and complex on the nose, featuring pungent aromas of mountain blueberry, blackberry, Asian spice, and licorice. Perfectly primary on the attack, MASSIVELY CONCENTRATED, juicy and dense, slowly peeling away fine layers of black currant, crushed black fruits, anise, and violets. This powerhouse Syrah is still in its infancy, finishing with broad, sumptuous tannins and stunning vibrancy. Drink now for its youthful hedonism or, like all of Turley’s great reds, lay the 2009 Zio Tony Ranch down for another 7-10 years.

94 points from Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate. $80/bottle if you’re on the Martinelli mailing list. $49.99 this morning on WineAccess. Take your pick.

• ABV 15.40%
• Enjoy right away
• % Syrah